Tuesday, 22 October 2013

In this talk Jon
Davison will attempt to turn orthodoxy on its head by challenging current
discourses on contemporary clowning, by exploring how clown practices, in both
performance and training, are inextricably bound up with issues of history,
theatricality, politics and gender. More…

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ClownBlog

This blog is one part of my asking and trying to answer the questions that are most important to me as a clown performer, teacher, director, historian, critic and researcher. Here are a few of them to be going on with:

what is a clown in the 21st century?
what do they do?
what are they for?
do clowns change over history and across cultures?
what is their true history?
how can we train clowns better?

more polemically...
why are women clowns underrepresented?
why are people obsessed with red noses?
what myths about "traditional" and "post-Lecoquian" clowns need to be thrown into the dustbin?
why is the fad for being afraid of clowns not altogether a bad thing?

About Me

I am a clown performer, teacher, director, researcher, writer and musician with 30 years experience.I've toured festivals, theatres, tents, streets and bars throughout Europe from Sicily to the Arctic. I trained at the École Philippe Gaulier and Fool Time Circus School (Bristol). As well as performing solo, I am artistic director of the clown/circus/pantomime company, Stupididity.
I was co-founder of the Escola de Clown de Barcelona, one of the world’s leading centres offering comprehensive clown training programmes covering both practical and theoretical aspects of the clown arts. I previously taught clown, impro, and acting at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona from 1996-2006, and was a Research Fellow investigating clown training at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (University of London), where I am now a visiting lecturer as well as researching clown performance and clown discourses.
I am the author of Clown Readings in Theatre Practice and Clown Training, a practical guide, both published by Palgrave Macmillan.
http://www.jondavison.net